DISPATCHES

SENATE D'S 'SEND MESSAGE'; ASHCROFT STILL 'IN'. Senate
Democrats couldn't bring themselves to block the confirmation of John
D. Ashcroft as attorney general on Feb. 1, but the 42 votes opposing
the former Missouri senator signaled that the Democrats should be
able to sustain a filibuster if President Bush turns to the
Republican Party's right wing for other top appointments, most
importantly for the Supreme Court and other judicial assignments.
While all 50 Republicans and eight Democrats supported Ashcroft,
despite his extreme record on civil rights, abortion and other
issues, the 42 "no" votes were one more than needed to sustain a
filibuster. Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton was the only other Bush
nominee besides Ashcroft who aroused significant opposition, but 25
Democrats joined the 50 Republicans to support her.

Democratic leaders said the Ashcroft vote carried the clear
message that the party was prepared to draw the line at future
nominations from the GOP right, particularly on judicial nominations,
but Salon.com's Alicia Montgomery noted that Senate Judiciary
Committee chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, gloated about Ashcroft's
victory to the press. Though he claimed that he was gratified to have
any support from Democrats, Hatch replied, when asked if he had
feared a filibuster by Democrats, "They didn't have the guts."

D's who voted for Ashcroft included North Dakota's Kent Conrad and
Byron Dorgan, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Christopher Dodd of
Connecticut, John Breaux of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Zell
Miller of Georgia and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. All incumbent
Democrats up for election in 2002 voted against Ashcroft. Some
progressive D's are sending their senators lozenges to urge them to
filibuster against right-wing initiatives and appointees (c/o US
Senate, Washington DC 20510).

STATES UNDER BUDGET CRUNCH. The slowing economy has sharply
reduced state tax revenues, forcing a growing number of states around
the South and Midwest to cut their budgets for the first time in a
decade, the New York Times reported Feb. 8. As many as 15
states that depend on sales and manufacturing taxes are suddenly
facing spending cuts of up to 15%, producing the first reductions in
education and health care programs in years.

In Texas, where George W. Bush used state tax cuts in 1997 and
1999 as a platform to run for president, the state is finding itself
short of cash as the economy is softening. Budget-writers find that
that the state may have as little as $300 million in its $108 billion
budget available for new programs or expand existing ones.

Meanwhile, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warned that
repeal of the federal estate tax not only would cost the federal
government about $50 billion a year; it also would cost state
governments more than $5.5 billion, based on provisions of the
federal estate tax that give taxpayers a dollar-for-dollar credit
against their federal estate tax liability for state estate and
inheritance tax payments up to a specified amount.

MEXICAN TRUCKS GET US ACCESS. The Bush administration will
not fight a Feb. 6 ruling by a NAFTA tribunal that allows Mexican
trucks to have access to all US roads, raising concerns that
substandard inspection in Mexico will lead to unsafe trucks flooding
the US. NAFTA, which took effect in 1994, required the US to allow
Mexican trucks access to all border-state roads starting in 1995, and
to drive anywhere in the country by January 2000. The Clinton
administration refused to expand their access beyond a 20-mile radius
from the border. The US may enforce its own standards on any trucks
traveling in the US, but the US lacks personnel and facilities to
check most Mexican trucks. Public Citizen reported that fewer than 1%
of the 4 million Mexican trucks entering the US now are inspected
(and 35% of those are taken out of service for safety failures; see
www.citizen.org.)

JAILED MEXICAN 'ENVIRO' HAILED. Imprisoned environmentalist
Rodolfo Montiel received the Sierra Club's "Chico Mendes" award Feb.
6 for his courage and leadership in defending old-growth forests of
Mexico's Sierra de Petatlán at the cost of his personal
freedom. Montiel and his colleague, Teodoro Cabrera, are in prison
for their efforts to halt the rampant logging in their farming
community. Montiel organized farmers to oppose the rampant, and
possibly illegal, logging in the mountains in Guerrero, Mexico. In
May 1999, Montiel and Cabrera were arrested by members of the Mexican
Army, who beat them, threatened them at gunpoint and allegedly
tortured the two men, forcing them to confess to trumped-up charges
of drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons, defenders say.
In mid-July, the Mexico Commission on Human Rights declared that
Montiel and Cabrera had, in fact, been tortured, that they have been
improperly detained and that they were not in possession of firearms
when arrested, as the military had claimed.

MORE STRIFE AT PACIFICA RADIO. Juan Gonzalez, the co-host
of the Pacifica Radio Network show Democracy Now!, quit the
show Jan. 31, citing harassment and muzzling of free speech in the
most recent dispute at the five-station network. In his on-air
resignation, he said "the current management situation at Pacifica
has become intolerable ... the last straw being the Christmas Coup at
this station, WBAI [in New York], last month" -- a reference
to recent unexplained firings and bannings of top staff. "I've come
to the conclusion that the Pacifica board has been hijacked by a
small clique that has more in common with modern-day corporate
vultures than with working-class America," he said. Gonzalez
announced a "national corporate campaign" to oust the Pacifica
Foundation's new leadership, which he accused of "illegally
chang[ing] the Foundation's bylaws." He called on listeners,
instead of donating to Pacifica, to contribute money to groups
challenging the board's legitimacy and working to democratize the
network. For more information about Gonzalez and the Pacifica
Campaign, phone 212-871-9322 or see www.pacificacampaign.org.
Meanwhile, six dissidents on the Pacifica Foundation's board want
Pacifica's national leadership to reverse course on its takeover of
WBAI, and to "build democratic decision-making structures throughout
Pacifica."

JAILED MEXICAN 'ENVIRO' HAILED. Imprisoned environmentalist
Rodolfo Montiel received the Sierra Club's "Chico Mendes" award Feb.
6 for his courage and leadership in defending old-growth forests of
Mexico's Sierra de Petatlán at the cost of his personal
freedom. Montiel and his colleague, Teodoro Cabrera, are in prison
for their efforts to halt the rampant logging in their farming
community. Montiel organized farmers to oppose the rampant, and
possibly illegal, logging in the mountains in Guerrero, Mexico. In
May 1999, Montiel and Cabrera were arrested by members of the Mexican
Army, who beat them, threatened them at gunpoint and allegedly
tortured the two men, forcing them to confess to trumped-up charges
of drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons, defenders say.
In mid-July, the Mexico Commission on Human Rights declared that
Montiel and Cabrera had, in fact, been tortured, that they have been
improperly detained and that they were not in possession of firearms
when arrested, as the military had claimed.